President Lee visits Japan's nuclear accident region

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak came close to Japan's crippled nuclear power plant and tasted cherry tomatoes and other vegetables produced in the region Saturday in a symbolic visit underlining Seoul's support for the disaster-stricken neighboring nation.

Lee made the visit to Fukushima, home to the quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, together with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao before the leaders traveled to Tokyo for an annual tripartite summit set for Sunday.

Lee and Wen were the first foreign leaders to visit the region since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami struck the power plant, causing damaged reactors to leak radiation in the world's worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

"As a true friend of Japan, our government and people would share your suffering and actively participate in recovery efforts," Lee said during a visit to Azuma General Athletic Park being used as a shelter for homeless residents.

The facility is located about 60 kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. South Korea had advised its citizens to stay at least 80 km away from the plant after fears of exposure to radiation spiked in March when the accident threatened to get out of control.

In front of the gymnasium, Lee, Kan and Wen tasted cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and other vegetables produced in Fukushima in a gesture meant to show that foods from the region are safe to consume.

Earlier in the day, Lee visited another tsunami-damaged region, Sendai, to comfort displaced residents there. Sendai is where a team of South Korean specialists had carried out search and rescue operations as the first foreign rescue team to arrive in Japan following the disaster.

Lee offered flowers in front of the rubbles of destroyed homes and observed a moment of silence.

"This was a disaster that went beyond the limit of human capabilities," a solemn-faced Lee said during a visit to a tsunami-razed area where ships and vehicles still remained abandoned in the middle of farmland.

"I offer words of comfort to the Japanese people. In particular, children must have suffered a lot of shock. I hope they will recover quickly," Lee said. "South Korean people have asked me to convey heartfelt sympathies. ... The world was surprised at the restrained attitude and the courage the Japanese people have shown."

Lee also held a meeting with South Koreans living in Sendai, saying his country has been providing Japan with as much help as possible as a neighbor, and that Korean residents in Japan should be granted the voting rights, a long-pending issue.

After the disaster, South Koreans and their government set aside hard feelings about Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule and provided full support for the neighboring nation in an unprecedented outpouring of sympathy and support for the historical rival.

How come its always the gov't. to be the last to figger out what ever'body else already knows?3 nuclear reactors melted down after quake, Japan confirmsJune 6, 2011 -- Japan's nuclear emergency agency goes further in describing the extent of damage; The Fukushima Daiichi plant was badly affected by an earthquake and tsunami in March; Tokyo Electric Power Co. has avoided calling the event a meltdown

Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant experienced full meltdowns at three reactors in the wake of an earthquake and tsunami in March, the country's Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters said Monday. The nuclear group's new evaluation, released Monday, goes further than previous statements in describing the extent of the damage caused by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11. The announcement will not change plans for how to stabilize the Fukushima Daiichi plant, the agency said. Reactors 1, 2 and 3 experienced a full meltdown, it said.

The plant's owner, Tokyo Electric Power Co., admitted last month that nuclear fuel rods in reactors 2 and 3 probably melted during the first week of the nuclear crisis. It had already said fuel rods at the heart of reactor No. 1 melted almost completely in the first 16 hours after the disaster struck. The remnants of that core are now sitting in the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel at the heart of the unit and that vessel is now believed to be leaking.

A "major part" of the fuel rods in reactor No. 2 may have melted and fallen to the bottom of the pressure vessel 101 hours after the earthquake and tsunami that crippled the plant, Tokyo Electric said May 24. The same thing happened within the first 60 hours at reactor No. 3, the company said, in what it called its worst-case scenario analysis, saying the fuel would be sitting at the bottom of the pressure vessel in each reactor building.

But Tokyo Electric at the same time released a second possible scenario for reactors 2 and 3, one that estimated a full meltdown did not occur. In that scenario, the company estimated the fuel rods may have broken but may not have completely melted. Temperature data showed the two reactors had cooled substantially in the more than two months since the incident, Tokyo Electric said in May.

Japan's stoicism turns to suicide...Suicide rates are increasing in Japanese regions most effected by the tsunami and nuclear disastersJune 17, 2011 - THE Japanese Government has warned of an epidemic of depression and suicide as a result of mental trauma caused by the earthquake, tsunami and ongoing nuclear disaster.

The country already has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, but new figures show that the number of deaths has risen almost a fifth compared with a year ago. In Miyagi, the region worst hit by the March 11 tsunami, the figures are especially alarming, with suicides up 39 per cent. A government report is now warning that the stoicism of many victims in the early weeks of the disaster may mask post-traumatic stress disorder. This week a dairy farmer from the town of Soma, in the Fukushima region - near the crippled nuclear plant - was found to have hanged himself after being forced to sell his herd because of a ban on the sale of milk from the area.

"It is a characteristic of the Great East Japan Earthquake that, as well as stress caused by large and sudden changes to daily life and the traumatic experience of the earthquake and tsunami, there are feelings of grief and loss resulting from the huge number of people missing and killed," the Government said in the report. "As well as grief, survivors also experience guilt because, although they tried to escape together, only some were saved. Then there is the shock of identifying bodies, for aid workers as well as victims, resulting in chronic depression or prolonged grief disorder."

The observations appear to be reflected in the new figures, which show an 18 per cent national increase in suicides. In May, 3,281 people killed themselves, 499 more than the same month in 2010. Suicides in Tokyo were up 27 per cent. "Looking at the calm behaviour of many of the victims, we might assume that post-traumatic stress disorder caused by their experiences might be less than overseas," the report said. "However, until we receive more detailed information, we cannot reach a simple conclusion."

Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, after Lithuania, several other former Soviet states and South Korea. In 2010, 31,690 people killed themselves in the country, the 13th consecutive year above 30,000. Suicide rates are closely tied to national trauma. Numbers increased from around 25,000 to more than 30,000 a year in the late 1990s, at a time of widespread bankruptcies and lay-offs caused by the collapse of the so-called "bubble economy". The number has always corresponded to unemployment rates - both peaked in 2003, for example.

May is usually one of the worst months because of the low spirits at the beginning of the new corporate year - a condition known as gogatsubyo, or "May-itis". Yoshiharu Kin, of the National Centre for Mental Health, said: "Many people recover within six months, but 10 to 20 per cent suffer from chronic conditions. Mental care after the disaster needs to work over several months and several years.

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